Pietà
Unknown Bolognese, Italian
16th century
Terracotta with traces of gesso and pigment
Overall: 11 1/2 × 16 in. (29.2 × 40.6 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Museum purchase with support from the Estate of Wallace D. Bradway, Class of 1947
2022.21
Geography
Place Made: Bologna, Italy, Europe
Period
1400-1600
Object Name
Sculpture
Research Area
Sculpture
Not on view
Label
Traces of pigment and gesso survive in the folds of garments and the rough surface of the base in this intimate Pietà—when the Virgin Mary mourned the death of her son Jesus Christ after his Crucifixion. Remnants of green appear on the ground near Christ’s outstretched foot and blue in the robe that twists around Mary’s waist. Rather than fully finished for display, this sculpture was likely a modello, a model that might be presented to a patron as proof of a final composition or used in a workshop to help with the completion of a full-scale sculpture.
From the 2024 exhibition Living with Sculpture: Presence and Power in Europe, 1400–1750, curated by Elizabeth Rice Mattison, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programming and Curator of European Art, and Ashley B. Offill, Curator of Collections
Course History
History 42.01, Women's Gender, and Sexuality Studies 22.01, Gender & European Society, Patrick Meehan, Spring 2024
History 96.39, Saints and Relics, Cecilia Gaposchkin, Spring 2024
Italian 1.01, Introductory Italian I, Noemi Perego, Spring 2024
Italian 11.01, Intensive Italian, Floriana Ciniglia, Spring 2024
Italian 2.01, Introductory Italian II, Floriana Ciniglia, Spring 2024
Italian 3.01, Introductory Italian III, Tania Convertini, Spring 2024
Italian 3.02, Introductory Italian III, Giorgio Alberti, Spring 2024
Exhibition History
Living with Sculpture: Presence and Power in Europe, 1400–1750, Citrin Family Gallery and Engles Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 23, 2024–March 22, 2025.
Provenance
Antoine Boccador, Paris, France; Gallarus Art Gallery, Katonah, New York; sold to present collection, 2022.
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